The Audaces: The Chosen
Prologue There were seven sages of Greece and seven of Rome. Rome was built upon seven hills. There are seven wonders of the Ancient World, seven stellar objects visible from Earth to the naked eye, and seven daughters of Atlas set among the stars. Seven is the also the number that defines the most powerful emperors in Roman history: Julius Caesar, Augustus, Galba, Hadrian, Nerva, Sallust, and Vespasian. We were chosen to replace them. We are the Audaces. We were established on the seventh day of the seventh month in the seventh year of the millennium. It just so happens that this month was created by Julius Caesar himself, and also his birth-month. This was to be the luckiest of days. The gods were invited to the ceremony, with our parents at seats of honor: Mars, Apollo, Bacchus, Mellona, Dea Tacita, Minerva, and Ceres. We made one mistake. We forgot to invite Discordia, as many often do. She cursed us, with her six children to torment us: Toil, Forgetfulness, Hunger, Folly, Lawlessness and Bane. We were only to be saved by Hope, the seventh spirit of Pandora's box. We knew nothing of this until Accalia, daughter of Ceres was killed by Bane. This is how we discovered we needed to replace Accalia with a new seven. And seven would save us. Chapter One- Ira's POV The death of Accalia had hit us all hard, but with the strength together we were able to move on. It hit Max and Furor most of all, as they had been especially close. And the others resented the whole ceremony altogether since they had been cursed with a demon 24/7. I am Ira Bellum, daughter of Mars, and leader of the Audaces. I had no demon tormenting me like the rest of my group, but it was perhaps a greater curse. I could see the other members, my so-called friends, look at me with resentment in their eyes instead of respect or guidance. Greg always ended up working the hardest. No matter how hard we tried to divvy up chores, or come up with plans for Greg to do less fighting, he always got stuck with the hardest jobs. Monsters would seek him out before the rest of us. Greg hadn't minded at first- actually he thought it was a blessing. He loved action and was an amazing fighter and strategist. But after a while it began to take its toll....He was tired of having to do everything himself, and partially blamed us. Jael was powerful and a battle genius, but she was a real pain in the butt sometimes too. She forgot everything, thanks to Lethe, evil spirit of forgetfulness. Repeating the plans a million times can get me especially upset. And when I get upset....well, all the other members turn against me. Furor was always hungry, which led him to be cranky, which led the rest of us to be cranky. You don't want to get a child of Bacchus against you--not when he has the power of madness and the control of vines on his side. Max, or Bee Boy as he had been deemed, would sometimes end up making a stupid mistake, which could potentially get us killed and always proved to infuriate everyone. I tried to keep the peace in the group but sometimes it would make things worse. We argued again and again that Max should be kicked out of the Audaces. But in the end we always felt ashamed of ourselves. After all, it was the curse, not him that made him act the way he did. And five was even farther from seven. Last and most annoying was Angelica. Don't be fooled by her first name, which means Angel. Her last name is Mortis, meaning Death. She was cursed with Lawlessness, a.k.a. Never listening to my directions. What scares me the most is that most of the time the group sides with her. Someday she may try to take over the group..... Enough of introductions. We were six nomads wandering endlessly through the United States, searching for the seventh. Lupa had banned us from camp incase we brought Discordia's children's harm with us. We were beyond frustrated with ourselves and with each other. Twice we thought we found a demigod with potential to be number seven, but each time we were disappointed. A day I will never forget is the day we fought the Hydra. I'd fantasized of killing this beast and taking a war trophy. Over and over again in my mind I had thought of how the Audaces would take it down. I voiced my plan. "Max, you distract with bees. Have them swarm around its heads, sting them, whatever. Furor, wrap grape vines around as many as you can, try to lasso them together. Angelica, concentrate the sun's energy to make fire. Greg and Jael: we'll distract it. Whatever you do: DO NOT CUT OFF THEIR HEADS." The Hydra roared indignantly as we set our plan in motion. Furor was working wonders with his vines, and I saw Angelica powering up beside me, concentrating as hard as she could. The Hydra was mostly interested in Greg, as I knew it would be. Even though the creature was blind, it eerily stalked towards him. We both managed to get in a few good blows. Greg came too close once and narrowly missed his leg being bit off. "Greg, hold back, will you?" I bellowed. "You're going to get yourself killed!" "Don't start on him!" Angelica said and turned to face him. I had felt the air around me get warmer like a nice summer day, but now it was like someone turned off the heat. "Angelica, we need fire!" "And we need a better leader!" Those words hit me harder than steel to the face. I didn't have time to retort however, because I was watching the biggest mistake play out before my eyes. Before I could yell to stop, I watched Max throw a barbed javelin at the Hydra. It was a lucky shot and passed through four of the heads. For a second of two, things were almost calm. Then eight heads grew back. "MAX! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?? What about the bees?" "Sorry!" Max yelped! "I just heard a "b" and thought you meant-" The next thing I knew, Jael was flying past me, as if thrown. She had gotten too close to the Hydra and Greg had had to jump in and save her. "What are you doing?" I asked while battling one of the heads furiously. "We're supposed to distract, not be dinner!" "My mind went blank!" she snapped. "So shut up! You know its not my fault!" Furor's vines had roped four heads together, and they were pressed against the grass, squirming and gnashing their teeth. "You're so abusive!" Angelica glared at me, her concentration broken again. "Stop blaming everyone else for your problems!" "SHUT UP, ANGELICA!" I screamed. BOOM. Angelica's temper sky-rocketed and the meadow exploded. The Hydra was instantly dissolved, and silent flames licked in a giant circle. None of us had been seriously hurt, thank the gods. Angelica had practically destroyed the Hyrda by herself, which she should have been overjoyed about. Instead, she was giving me the death glare. "I'm sure we'll find number seven soon. Until then, we'll just have to adjust," I managed to say. "Six is a cursed number. It wasn't so according to plan, but good work, guys." "Yeah right," Greg spat. He had cuts and scratches everywhere that I could see. "How come I have to fight the hardest, and then I don't' even get the pleasure of killing it?" "I'm sorry guys," Max said, looking at his feet. "I know I messed up." Furor looked sympathetic. "No, you were fine. It was a really great shot, actually." "No it wasn't," I snapped. "But we killed it anyway. Furor and I were the only ones who actually did as I said." Angelica reached her boiling point again, and I wouldn't have been surprised if she had started another forest fire. "I killed that thing all by myself and you still say that I didn't do anything! You're a horrible leader!" She grabbed a stick off the ground nearby and drew a line. "If you want to come with me, you'll be better off," She addressed the group. "More duels, more monster fights, and most importantly, no Ira." Horrified, I watched them one by one step across the line to the other side. Max, then Jael. Furor and Greg hesitated. Max motioned to Furor and he slowly toed the line. Greg was too ashamed to meet my eyes. "Come on, guys," Angelica said in a sticky sweet voice. "Everything will be better with me." Satisfied, she smirked at me. "I think that's majority." I pulled out my falchion. "Lupa appointed me leader." "We don't answer to Lupa anymore," Jael pointed out. "We only serve the gods." "And if you wanted a fight," Angelica said, eyeing my weapon, (she gestured to the others, who pulled out theirs), "It's five against one. If you challenge us, you will die." My lip quivered, a sign of weakness, which Lupa told me to keep in check. I could tell the others had noticed too. It took all the strength I had not to cry as I looked them all in the face. "Et tu, Brute?" Jael looked and confused and crossed back over the line, "Ira, why are you crying?" "Jael!" Angelica barked. "We don't like her anymore, in case you forgot. Get back across the line." Jael followed orders, and even seemed to remember that she now hated me. There they stood. Five on one side of the line, one on the other. "Like you said," Angelica's last words were to me. "Six is a cursed number." I was hit by one of her stunner arrows, and I felt myself get sleepy. I collapsed to the ground, and curled into a ball, only to be awoken by the morning's rain. By then, they were gone. Category:The Audaces (OC Club)